Tummy Troubles

One thing we have learned here is that things can change in a heartbeat. And unfortunately, this time it was for the worse. Last week, Mason was doing great with his bottles and his reflux really seemed under control. Then all of a sudden Thursday morning, he spit up his entire bottle. This was strange because even through all of his reflux troubles, he had never spit up. We hoped it was just a fluke, but since then he has spit up every mouth feeding we have given him. And this isn't your average infant spit up. We're talking he doesn't stop until his stomach is completely empty. We finally stopped trying on Sunday and we're waiting for the GI specialist to see him today. We hope he will do an upper GI study to see if he can find a problem. We don't think it is related to the reflux since it started so suddenly and happens hours after his feeding, usually long after his reflux symptoms have stopped. Mason is back to getting all feedings through his TP tube and he doesn't have any trouble with that. The TP tube bypasses his stomach, so that seems to be the problem. Anything that goes in the stomach comes back up.

We're praying that they figure out the problem very soon and that it isn't something serious. His neonatologist ran a few tests and tried a few things over the weekend, but decided it was best to wait for the specialist. As usual, our little Mason is such a trooper. You can tell he doesn't feel quite right (and the poor guy is hungry), but he hardly fusses at all.

This is how Mason sleeps these days - with a few dry wipes under his face to try to keep him dry. And of course his 'sock hands' to keep his tube in place. Even when his stomach is empty, he continues to spit up clear stuff.